


Chan's Stray (Kids)

by Miss_Sarcastix



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Drabble, Fluff, Gen, How Do I Tag, Light Angst, This isn't particularly shippy, but feel free to interpret relationships if you want, idek if it qualifies actually, like very light, umm just give it a shot?, you might have to squint tho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-05
Updated: 2019-09-05
Packaged: 2020-11-01 22:23:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20526983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miss_Sarcastix/pseuds/Miss_Sarcastix
Summary: Chan finds them and somewhere along the course of collecting strays, he finds himself too.





	Chan's Stray (Kids)

**Author's Note:**

> Helloooo ~ This isn't particularly long (or good ghjk), this was pretty much the first thing I'd managed to complete after like almost a month of Writer's Block, but I hope you like it <333

~ ♡ ~ ♡ ~ ♡ ~ ♡ ~

He finds Changbin in an empty studio rapping like his life depends on it. Maybe it did. The words were jagged and raw and Chan hears every single one of them. It takes time before they’re close. Takes time for Chan to learn that Changbin hides under black sweaters and edgy hats despite the fact that pastel makes up half his wardrobe. One night spent at the studio turns into two and then countless and then they’re close. Really close. And Chan had friends and mentors in the company, he always had, but it was different in a way he couldn’t place, so he doesn’t try. Instead they write together. They see each others’ darksides and lightsides and it works. It’s 2am and Chan brings Changbin to his own dorm and herds him into bed and he’s turning off the lights and he thinks that maybe he’s adopted the other boy as his own. He’s okay with that.

~ ♡ ~ ♡ ~ ♡ ~ ♡ ~

He finds Jisung in the cafeteria. It would have been less odd had it not been so late. He’s filled with nervous energy, bitten nails, tousled hair, jiggling leg. He pushes the food around his plate and his eyes are far away. Chan slides in opposite him and steals his carrots before he even asks for a name. Jisung blinks at him. Jisung is so filled with concerns and worries that he it only takes the slightest push for him to spill to Chan. It’s 2am and Chan drags Jisung to his studio and Changbin is still there and they tell him to write because Chan has a feeling in his gut. He’s right and they’re both left in an impressed silence at the way Jisung spits fire and chills and passion in verse after verse off the bat. It takes time but the duo becomes a trio and Jisung snorts and calls them 3racha as a joke on one of their long nights. It sticks. It’s 2am and suddenly Chan has two kids and that’s okay.

~ ♡ ~ ♡ ~ ♡ ~ ♡ ~

He finds Felix in a dance studio and his gut twists. He’s pouring his soul out to music he barely understands and maybe that’s why he breaks down by the second verse, surrounded by unfamiliar walls and words. Chan speaks to him in English first and Felix almost cries again. It helps them both and Chan mixes his Korean and English when it’s just them and Felix spends sleepless nights over books and he learns. Chan worries if he’s too harsh on the other boy sometimes but he’s been there, he knows and he helps and on the nights when their hearts cry out for a home far from there, he knows that Felix knows that Chan cares. 3racha is 3racha but now Felix is theirs, and he is because Jisung and Felix share their secret stash of snacks late at night and Changbin wraps him in sweaters and affection and Chan knows he has three kids now and he wonders when he started collecting strays.

~ ♡ ~ ♡ ~ ♡ ~ ♡ ~

He finds Hyunjin on the rooftop where walls weren’t pressing in on him and he’s dancing to music that croaks out from a beat up speaker. It’s cold and windy but sweat rolls down the younger boy’s face and Chan brings him into their dance practice. He holds his insecurities close and Chan thinks that maybe Hyunjin’s good looks were a double edged sword because any mention of his visuals only made him dance harder into the nights. He dances with jagged ends and maybe that’s why he rubbed Jisung the wrong way, their sharp ends pricking each other. Felix gets caught in the middle and he sticks to the only other friend he’s had in this place and Chan’s heart aches with the divide. It’ll take time, that’s fine, he can wait. He has four kids, and maybe this was harder than it looked but it was still okay, they were his and he would never regret that. 

~ ♡ ~ ♡ ~ ♡ ~ ♡ ~

He finds Seungmin in the corridor lost and confused and Chan was only supposed to guide him to class but he sticks around anyway. Seungmin says little but sees a lot, he takes pictures from a point of view that Chan never had and he knows he’s already attached. Seungmin keeps his troubles like volcanoes under a calm ocean and he sings until his throat is raw and he keeps pictures of sunsets and rooftops next to his bed, but he lets Chan drag him for breakfast and that’s enough for now. He clicks with Hyunjin and Chan knows that they speak to each other and he’s glad they have each other. Seungmin notices things and it takes time but he clicks with the others and the divide becomes narrower and the ache in Chan’s heart starts to subside. It’s 2am and Chan is herding them all to bed and he smiles at Seungmin when the other cuts in between the thinly veiled barbs traded between Jisung and Hyunjin. It’s 2am and Chan has five kids and that’s okay.

~ ♡ ~ ♡ ~ ♡ ~ ♡ ~

He finds Woojin at vocal practice and it’s different because Woojin is older than Chan but they gravitate towards each other and Chan finds himself relaxing in the older’s presence. They grow close without realising because Woojin wasn’t there, but then he was and Chan grows used to him. Woojin is comfort and strength and a force to be reckoned with. They confide in each other in a way that Chan couldn’t do with others and he doesn’t know what they are but he’s glad to have him. Woojin is an ocean and he pours his soul into every word he sings and Chan writes, this time for him. And Woojin takes care of the kids where Chan couldn’t and they’re his as much they’re Chan’s and maybe Woojin wasn’t his kid but he was still Chan’s. And Chan was his too. It’s 2am and Chan is herding his kids to bed but this time he isn’t alone, and it’s 2am and Chan has five kids and another stray. It’s okay because he’s also a stray. 

~ ♡ ~ ♡ ~ ♡ ~ ♡ ~

He finds Minho in an empty dance studio with the lights off and the music loud. Exhausted gasps puncture the air. He dances smooth and desperate, expressing himself the only way he knows how. Minho uses confidence like a shield and a sword to protect himself from the world. He tries to stand alone but tonight he lets Chan turn off the music and doesn’t protest when he lies down on the floor next to the other in the darkness. Minho joins them for lunch and laughs for the first time in weeks at a joke that Jisung makes, cheeks puffed. He slowly melds with the rest of them and the quirks he fought so hard to keep hidden appear at odd times and they’re cherished by each person. He’s only ever wanted to be a dancer but he’ll learn whatever he needs to if it means he can be on stage. And Chan knows that he isn’t going anywhere as Minho’s camera roll slowly fills up with pictures of his boys next to his cats. It’s 2am and Jisung hangs on to Minho as they stumble to the exit. 2am, he has six kids and a stray and he’s okay with that.

~ ♡ ~ ♡ ~ ♡ ~ ♡ ~

He finds Jeongin biting his lip in a vocal room staring at sheets of music that blur in front of his eyes. His hand absentmindedly picks at the fringes of a familiar yellow uniform and he startles as Chan slides in the chair next to him. His eyes scream of innocence and he sees beauty and hope where others see none. He pushes himself to edges, testing his limits while trying to make the rest of the world proud and satisfied. He has the rest of them wrapped around his finger as they push extra food from their plates onto his just to see the smile that spreads across his face. He holds his worries tight, unwilling to be a burden but it’s only a matter of time before he finds the courage to talk about the things that keep him up at night. And now he knows he’s not alone and Chan swears to himself that the younger will never be alone. It’s 2am and they’re giggling in a practice room and it isn’t perfect but he has seven kids and a stray and he’s content.

~ ♡ ~ ♡ ~ ♡ ~ ♡ ~ 

It doesn’t happen overnight. They’re Chan’s kids but they don’t become a unit at once. He knows as he watches the progress that with time they would be, he doesn’t know why it’s them but he has a feeling. Then they’re thrown into a survival show and Chan’s gut twists and he wishes the industry wasn’t so cruel but he’s ready to protect them all. Chan worries because he knows that despite the act, Hyunjin and Jisung still shoot edged barbs at each other when the others aren’t looking. Knows that Felix still has so much to learn despite the progress he’s made so quickly. Knows that the show will push them all out of their comfort zones and the boundaries they have set and Chan worries if it’ll break them. 

Minho gets eliminated and a part of Chan leaves with him. Jisung cries through the nights and the worries and fear haunt his dreams. Jeongin bites his lips until it bleeds, fingers always fidgeting. Hyunjin dances with an air of desperation and grief. There’s a shift in the air. Felix gets eliminated next and Chan cries because he should have watched him, should have been there but he wasn’t. He knows that Jisung meets Felix sitting on the stairwell and they cry together over the dream they both have. Seungmin takes pictures of sunrises and sends them to Felix with shaky hands. Changbin changes his wallpaper to a picture of Felix’s freckles and raps with a new fervor. 

Then Felix and Minho are back and it feels like a dream. JYP leaves the room and Jisung makes the first move towards Felix and Chan beams from the sideline, watching them mingle and poke and tease each other with euphoria and relief. His boys are together again and the risks are high but Chan will be damned if they have to leave again. There's a shift now in the group. The quips between Jisung, Felix and Hyunjin lose their edges after tearful conversations in a dark bathroom. The last of Jeongin's slight wariness of older members crumbles away into gratefulness from the careful guidance he receives. Woojin watches with amusement as Seungmin makes funny faces at the mirror in an attempt to make them laugh. They spend long nights in the dance room with Minho helping them with the choreography and his cheeks redden with the barrage of compliments even though he denies it. The younger members cackle together as they watch Changbin whine exaggeratedly at Woojin, over what Chan doesn't know.

They debut as nine and they cry on stage and again at the celebratory dinner they have in the cafeteria at 2am. They've always been close but now they're truly one unit. One home. He’s smiling at them softly and he remembers all the moments it took for them to get here. The moments when he wondered if they would make it through this. Remembers when Hyunjin would cry himself to sleep at night and shake in his dreams. When Jisung would try to deepen his voice and wonder why he wasn’t better, wasn’t enough. When Felix would jam his earphones in his ears and listen to English music because he still didn’t understand. When Seungmin would stare at pictures of baseball fields with his head far away. When Minho would lock himself in a practice room alone letting only the music faintly bleed out the door. When Jeongin would fall asleep in vocal rooms still wearing his school uniform. When Changbin’s raps tipped closer to the edge, sharper and darker. When Woojin would bite his tongue and practice the same dance moves for hours because he had his vocals but he wanted, needed, his dance. 

Now though, it’s different. Jisung writes verses and hands them to Hyunjin and Hyunjin raps them with determination because Jisung wrote them for him. Seungmin and Jeongin drag Felix away from his books when they’re back from school and they come back with matching phone cases and grins. Minho laughs as they clap him on the back at his added position as a rapper because now he’s everything he wanted to be and everything he never thought he could be. Changbin wears more colorful clothes and says he likes dark but sometimes he’s the brightest person in the room. Woojin sits in the middle of the five youngest members and shoots Chan an amused look despite joining them all in their antics.

And Chan? Chan is content. More than content. Happy, because he remembers the nights he spent alone in studios, eyes blurring at his laptop screen. Remembers pages of words and music written for people that don’t exist, people he doesn’t have. Remembers the nights he’s spent on rooftops, legs swinging as he wondered why he came to this foreign land in the first place. Wonders what he’s doing it for, why he’s there, what he wants, whether it’s worth it. Remembers his hesitation sometimes to approach his seniors as his thoughts spiral and his hands tremble. Remembers the open boxes of take out littering his empty dorm. Remembers the nights he spends at the gym working himself into exhaustion just because he didn’t know what to do. Remembers staring at the ceiling as the clock shifts to midnight, the day changes and he’s another year older but he feels no more wiser.

Then things changed. Now he grows used to the way his boys greet him in the morning, from Felix’s English good morning to Minho’s salute to Changbin’s whines and Woojin’s simple hi. Now his studio is filled with laughter and ideas and he writes words for the people he loves. Now he smiles fondly at the memory of Jisung showing up at his door on his birthday crying on his behalf. Now Changbin claps him on the back and joins him on his gym days and they jokingly try to outdo each other. Now he visits the rooftop with Seungmin to take pictures at sundown and sunrise in their free time. Now he laughs and makes ramen for Jeongin from a recipe handed to him from Hyunwoo a long time ago that he’d never used because he didn’t know who to cook for. Now he shares pictures of his dog with Minho and in return he gets pictures of the other’s cats and he smiles. Now he walks to restaurants with Woojin after dance practice to try the latest popular dishes to celebrate the progress they made in practice. Now he knows what he’s doing it for, knows why he does what he does, knows who he does it for. He does it for his love of music, for his love of people, for himself and for his boys. 

~ ♡ ~ ♡ ~ ♡ ~ ♡ ~  


  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think!!! If you made it to the end I hope you liked it at least a bit asdfghj ~ Thank you for reading!!! ~ <333


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